UFC Fight Night 29‘s Rousimar Palhares is in very, very hot water surrounding his submission victory over Mike Pierce. The longtime middleweight (who made his welterweight debut tonight) scored an impressive 31-second submission victory with an excellent ankle lock.
While that’s all well and good, Pierce tapped immediately after it was locked up, but Palhares refused to let go, even as the referee tried to break up the two fighters. It was a move that drew an enormous amount of criticism from fans, media and fighters, and it is not even close to the first time Palhares has been in trouble for some extracurricular twisting on his signature submission.
He was suspended three months by the New Jersey State Athletic Commission at UFC 111 in 2010. He also allegedly did this twice more in 2007 during fights on the local circuit in Brazil.
For his poor sportsmanship and plain and simple recklessness, Palhares was denied a Submission of the Night bonus, in spite of being the only fighter on the card to win via submission (which cost him $50,000). Additionally, UFC president Dana White vowed additional punishment for Palhares, but wouldn’t get into any specifics quite yet.
It doesn’t end there, either. UFC executive Marshall Zelaznik commented that the commission that oversaw the card will be looking into the length of time Palhares held onto the ankle lock.
While we will have to wait to see how harsh the punishments are, it is good to see that something is being done. Palhares’ behavior was absolutely, unquestionably unacceptable, and he is a repeat offender. Knee injuries are absolutely devastating to an athlete’s livelihood, and Palhares is obviously trying to actively inflict them on opponents.
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